Are best to art and antient taste allied, Till this be learn'd, how all things disagree! The fool to native ignorance confin’d, No beauty beaming on his clouded mind; Untaught to relish, yet too proud to learn,' He scorns the grace his dulness can't discern. 60 Hence reason to caprice resigns the stage, And hence that maxim of the antient Sage, “ Of all vain fools with coxcomb talents curst, “ Bad Painters and bad Poets are the worst.”. When first the orient rays of beauty move 65 The conscious soul, they light the lamp of love; Nôsse quid in rebus natura crearit ad artem Pulchrius, idque modum juxta, mentemque ve tustam; ini.. Quà sine barbaries cæca et temeraria pulchrum Negligit, insultans ignotæ audacior arti, : 41 Ut curare nequit, quæ non modo noverit esse; Illud apud veteres fuit unde notabile dictum, “ Nil Pictore malo securius atque Poeta.” Cognita amas, et amata cupis, sequerisque cupita ; Passibus assequeris tandem quæ fervidus urges : Love wakes those warm desires that prompt our chace, To follow and to fix each flying grace; But earth-born graces sparingly impart The symmetry supreme of perfect art: For though our casual glance may sometimes meet With charms that strike the soul, and seem com plete, Yet if those charms too closely we define, Content to .copy nature line for line, ... Our 'end is lost. Not such the Master's care, 75 Curious he culls the perfect from the fair; Judge of his art, through beauty's realm he flies, Selects, combines, improves, diversifies ;With nimble step pursues the fleeting throng, And clasps each Venus as she glides along. 80 Illa tamen quæ pulchra decent; non omnia casus Qualiacunque dabunt, etiamve simillima veris; Nam quamcunque modo servili haud sufficit ipsam Naturam exprimere ad vivum: sed ut arbiter artis, 50 Seliget ex illa tantùm pulcherrima Pictor; . Quodque minus pulchrum, aut mendosum, corriget i ipse Marte suo, formæ Veneres captando fugaces. * Yet some there are who indiscreetly stray, Where purblind practice only points the way: Who every theoretic truth disdain, And blunder on, mechanically vain. Some too there are, within whose languid breasts A lifeless heap of embryo knowledge rests, 86 When nor the pencil feels their drowsy art, Nor the skill'd hand explains the meaning heart. In chains of sloth such talents droop confin’d: 'Twas not by words Apelles charm'd mankind. 90 Hear then the Muse; tho' perfect beauty towers Above the reach of her descriptive powers, + Utque manus grandi nil nomine practica dignum Assequitur, primum arcanæ quam deficit artis 55 Lumen, et in præceps abitura ut cæca vagatur; Sic nihil ars operâ manuum privata supremum Exequitur, sed languet iners uti vincta lacertos; Dispositumque typum non linguâ pinxit Apelles. Ergo licet totà normam haud possimus in arte 60 Ponere, (cum nequeant quæ sunt pulcherrima dici,) Yet will she strive some leading rules to draw The From sovereign Nature's universal law; * II. Of Theory and Practice. + II. De Speculatione et Praxi. Stretch her wide view. o'er ancient Art's domain, lancaran Again establish Reason's legal reign, 96 * Some lofty theme let judgment first supply, 101 Nittimur hæc paucis, scrutati summa magistræ chrum, * III. Of the Subject. + III. De Argumento. Still happier, if that artful theme dispense . 105 A poignant moral and instructive sense. * Then let the virgin canvass smooth expand, To claim the sketch and tempt the Artist's hand : Then, bold INVENTION, all the powers diffuse, Of all thy sisters thou the noblest muse: 110 Thee every art, thee every grace inspires, Thee Phæbus fills with all his brightest fires. + Choose such judicious force of shade and light As suits the theme, and satisfies the sight; Sponte capax, amplam emeritæ mox præbeat Arti albo $ Quærendasque inter posituras, luminis, umbræ, * Invention the first part of Painting. + IV. Disposition or economy of the whole. Inventio prima Picturæ pars. IV. Dispositio, sive ope. ris totius æconomia. |